Baku 2015: McKeever upbeat for worlds after bronze medal

Ed McKeever insists he is on track for this summer's canoe sprint World Championships after collecting European Games bronze in Baku.

The Olympic K1 200m champion was looking to add to his collection of world and European titles in Mingachevir.

He was the most impressive qualifier in Monday's heats but Hungary's Miklos Dudas, sixth at London 2012, won the final by a clear distance with Sweden's Petter Menning and McKeever completing the podium.

"It’s always good to come away with a medal but’s a pity it’s not a gold one," he said.

"It was a tough race and it was a few seconds longer than normal and maybe that played into the bigger guys’ hands, just having that little bit more momentum.

"I’m very happy with my form and looking forward to going home and getting some work done over the next eight weeks before the World Championships.

“Eight weeks is enough time for two good blocks of training. I’ll sit down with my coach and work out what the strengths and weaknesses were and where we can improve."

Liam Heath and Jon Schofield, the Olympic bronze medallists, finished just off the podium in the K2 200m.

Serbia, Germany and Hungary took the medals with the British pair deadlocked with Spain in fourth.

"We were a lot further down on the first and second places than we wanted to be so in that case we have just got to take what we can get," said Schofield.

“Our form generally is good. It’s maybe a small step off where we would like to be but it’s a case of making sure we execute to our best in the World Championships final."

Elsewhere, Rachel Cawthorn - currently second in the World Cup rankings in the K1 500m - finished eighth in her specialty event and ninth over 200m.

And Chris Calvert ranked eighth in the C1 200m final won by Lithuania's Henrikas Zustautas.